A story by Andrew Becker and Patrick J. McDonnell of the Los Angeles Times has found that U.S. citizens are increasingly being mistakenly included in immigration sweeps. Reports of “mistaken detentions are drawing increased attention as immigration officials mount workplace roundups and jailhouse sweeps in search of undocumented immigrants. Immigration raids of factories and other…
Read MoreAn “analysis of NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) has revealed that pilots flying Boeing 737s, the world’s most widely deployed passenger aircraft, have frequently been ignoring an onboard alarm horn designed to warn of a critical loss of pressure, and thus a lack of oxygen, in the cockpit,” reports Michael Fabey for Travel Weekly. …
Read MoreCharles Piller of The Sacramento Bee reports that billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway “owns more than $13 billion of stock in the top recipients of TARP funds – including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., US Bancorp, American Express Co. and Bank of America Corp., all considered by analysts to be in deep trouble before the federal…
Read MoreThe Indianapolis Star reporter Brendan O’Shaughnessy examined the effectiveness of the city’s police surveillance cameras. According to the article, “Police say they have made a handful of arrests thanks to the cameras, including a homicide last year. But without hard data, it’s hard to tell whether the cameras are worth the money.” Each camera costs…
Read MoreA two-part series by the Tulsa World analyzes crime on public school campuses. Since 2005, Tulsa schools have called city police more than 9,450 times. Reasons for the calls include assaults, drug use, weapons found and burglaries. Child abuse was the leading reason for the calls, as teachers and counselors are increasingly finding abused children.
Read MoreAdam Goldman and Randy Herschaft tell the story behind the hunt for Abu Ibrahim, a bombmaker who has eluded authorities for decades. Long forgotten and even presumed dead by some, Ibrahim is very much alive, according to an Associated Press investigation.
Read MoreA two-part series in The Miami Herald explains how Florida storefront clinics exploit the market for narcotic painkillers. Scott Hiassen reports, “Experts blame these clinics for a startling rise in prescription-drug overdose deaths in Florida, including a 107 percent jump in oxycodone deaths in two years….Yet, regulators and police can’t control the problem — handcuffed,…
Read MoreMedication errors raise questions about patient safety at a New Jersey psychiatric hospital, according to an Asbury Park Press report by Jean Mikle. A review of hundreds of pages of Ancora medication safety and error reports by the Press found troubling patterns of mistakes and omissions at the facility, which has about 600 patients. The…
Read MoreSeymour Hersh has joined the lineup of speakers at the 2009 IRE Conference. Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who has exposed scandals and cover-ups for decades — from the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam to Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq — joins a strong group of speakers that also includes Bob Woodward of The…
Read MoreSteven Greenhouse of The New York Times reports on an investigation into New York state’s workers’ compensation system uncovering delays, fraudulent claims, and questionable rulings. Employees feel the system is trying to avoid paying out on claims, while employers believe fraudulent claims are rampant. “A century ago, when the state created its workers’ compensation system,…
Read More